VIENNA, December 16. /TASS/. This year, 2021, was yet another year of missed opportunities for Ukraine to settle the situation in Donbass, Russian Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting Thursday.
"The outgoing year 2021 became yet another year of missed opportunities for Ukraine in the business of achieving peace in Donbass and ensuring a sustainable social and economic development of the state in general. The work on progressing the practical matters of the settlement has stalled dangerously," the envoy said.
According to the diplomat, this situation was caused by Ukrainian authorities’ unwillingness to implement the agreements reached on de-escalation and a ceasefire, on ensuring proper guarantees of security for working on humanitarian goals, as well as social and economic issues.
"There has been no progress in the political aspects of the settlement in accordance with the February 12, 2015, Minsk Package of Measures, approved by the UN Security Council resolution 2202," the Russian envoy said.
Lukashevich noted that Ukraine made a number of attempts to make the implementation of the Package of Measures legally impossible, with the so-called bill on the transitional period being a shining example.
"It directly bars Ukrainian officials from implementing the Minsk clauses," the diplomat noted.
The envoy also reiterated the statement that certain Western countries are ramping up their military-technical support for Kiev, continuing to ship lethal weapons, while hundreds of military specialists from several NATO countries are still operating in Ukraine. There has also been no progress in the investigation of the 2014 Maidan shootings and the mass murder of civilians in Odessa, as well as other crimes of the radical forces, Lukashevich said.
He urged "the external curators of Ukraine and all OSCE institutions to use all available influence to encourage the Ukrainian authorities to fulfill all their obligations.".